I typically find sequels and remakes as appealing as foot fungus. Is it too much to ask for an original story rather than a money grab furnished by Xerox? Fortunately, every now and then sequels and remakes come along that don’t weaken the immune system.

Imagination frequently provides the cure, often found in something as simple as introducing a character with some verve. Think Jessie in “Toy Story 2” and Puss in Boots in “Shrek 2.”

And, thankfully, in “Rio 2,” the latest sequel from 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios, there’s Gabi, the poisonous dart frog voiced by Kristin Chenoweth, she of the amazing pipes. The film actually introduces a host of new characters, but Gabi is the one who stands out. Her duets with Nigel (voice of Jemaine Clement), the evil cockatoo whom she adores for some inexplicable reason, give the film a boost. Case in point, their rendition of “I Will Survive.” Take that Gloria Gaynor.

Like its 2011 original, “Rio 2” features plenty of dazzling 3-D dances bolstered by eye-popping color. I challenge you not to tap your toes. One number even evokes Busby Berkeley.

As for the plot, “Rio 2” borrows a page from the “Madagascar” films where the animals, comfortable in their city confines, go back to the wild. Instead of fish out of water, we have birds out of nest. Here, Blu (voice of Jesse Eisenberg) and Jewel (voice of Anne Hathaway) take their brood from Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon where they discover that they’re not only the blue macaws on the planet. Blu, unaccustomed to the jungle, brings along a fanny pack. He also has to deal with Jewel’s domineering father, Eduardo (voice of Andy Garcia), who hates all things human, and the romantic Roberto (voice of Bruno Mars), Jewel’s childhood friend.

Subplots have ornithologists Linda (voice of Leslie Mann) and her husband Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), looking for these macaws and Nigel looking for revenge against Blu. For topicality, while the first film cast bird smugglers as villains, the sequel portrays loggers as evil incarnate as they chop down tree after tree, laying waste to the rain forest and the birds’ habitat. Another subplot has Blu running afoul (sorry) of scarlet macaws when he accidentally invades their territory. This gives the film a chance to play a soccer-like grudge match. I hear soccer is kind of popular in Brazil.

Finally, Pedro (voice of will.i.am) and Nico (voice of Jaime Foxx) return. Here, they’re looking for talent to bring back to Rio for Carnival.

That’s a lot of storylines to keep track of. A few too many, as the drama gets diluted. Suffice it to say the young ones will enjoy the action scenes and the comical Nigel, who is so good at being bad.

Page 2 of 2 - Brazilian director Carlos Saldanha, who directed the original along with the “Ice Age” films, knows how to anthropomorphize with the best of them. The script by the late Don Rhymer, Carlos Kotkin, Jenny Bicks and Yoni Brenner has its comic moments, but the film is best served by the musical numbers. Even on this count, the film underutilizes Hathaway and Rita Moreno, who voices Aunt Mimi. Their talent deserves to be showcased. Of course, I’d like hear more of Chenoweth, too.

But hey, bottom line, “Rio 2” entertains. To butcher a Carole King lyric, it’s light and breezy and it knows just what to do.